


Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities

by Small_Hobbit



Series: The Ocelot Collection [53]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 18:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19447051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: Holmes and Watson take Aemelia Vole, Mouselet and the Ferret to Bramber to work on a case.





	Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DW's Fan Flashworks Amnesty challenge, prompts 'Red' and 'Green'
> 
> Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities existed, as did the exhibits, although I have changed the wedding scene.

“Here we are,” Sherlock Holmes said, “Mr Potter’s Museum of Curiosities.”  
  
We had taken the train to Bramber railway station and were now standing outside the museum. It was closed, since we had arrived in the early evening, but we had wanted to see it before heading to the White Lion where we would be staying for the night.  
  
“And you’re quite sure about the plans?” I asked Holmes.  
  
“Ours or theirs?” Holmes replied.  
  
“Theirs. I’m never sure about ours.”  
  
Holmes chuckled. “Oh, yes. The two go-betweens will meet in the museum at noon. If it hadn’t been for the chance of being recognised, Lestrade would have been there himself, but the risk was too great. Our role is simply to observe and inform.”  
  
The ‘our’ was not Holmes and my, but Mouselet, Aemelia Vole and the Ferret. For those who haven’t had the opportunity to visit this museum, I should tell them it is a series of scenes made with stuffed animals. Mr Potter is a gifted taxidermist, and his ‘Who killed Cock Robin’ and ‘Rabbit Village School’, with 48 student rabbits, are amongst the highlights of the exhibits. As may be expected, we were intending to substitute our three friends for some of the characters on display.  
  
Once we had arrived at the inn, and partaken of dinner (rather poor fare I feel, the beef was somewhat leathery, and the vegetables appeared to have been put on to boil first thing in the morning), we retired to Holmes’ room, which was slightly the larger of the two. There, we found Aemelia putting the finishing touches to the outfits for the following day.  
  
The Ferret had a pair of pin-striped trousers, generously cut, a black jacket and a green and red waistcoat. Aemelia had a black velvet dress and Mouselet was wearing a dress with a white bodice and red skirt, and Aemelia was stitching a green lining in place.  
  
“Is there a problem?” Holmes asked.  
  
“You told us some of the bridesmaids were wearing green and some wearing red. We don’t know which will be more appropriate so we decided Mouselet’s dress should combine both.”  
  
“Does it matter?”  
  
The look Holmes received was very similar to one my dear Mary would give me when I failed to understand an important element of female life. “I think it does, Holmes,” I said.  
  
I retired for the night, taking Aemelia and Mouselet with me. We left the Ferret with Holmes, since he snores.   
  
***  
  
The following morning, we arrived at the museum shortly after it opened. We found the wedding display and I raised my bag so the three could climb onto the table. After some discussion between Aemelia and Mouselet they decided she would wear the dress with the red skirt uppermost. While they were doing that, the Ferret took his place amongst the gentlemen of the wedding party.  
  
There was a loud pop, and Aemelia said, “Oh, really!”  
  
Mouselet, now appropriately dressed, retrieved the button from under the skirt of one of the other bridesmaids.  
  
“Does it need to go back on?” I asked.  
  
“Not necessarily,” Mouselet replied, “but if one button’s come off, the other two will almost certainly follow.”  
  
“We could sew him into the waistcoat,” Aemelia said.  
  
“You are not sewing anything onto me!” the Ferret exclaimed.  
  
“If we sew the two sides of the waistcoat together at the top you can always take it off over your head. And that way it’ll still stay done up if the other buttons fall off.”  
  
The Ferret looked as if he was going to continue complaining, but Mouselet squeaked, “Hurry up, I can see more people coming this way.”  
  
I pretended to be pointing out some items of interest in the display to Holmes to justify our continuing to stand before the same exhibit for so long, and soon Aemelia had completed the repairs.  
  
Holmes and I departed, to wait for midday. We returned to the museum shortly before twelve, apparently having a disagreement about the setting of one of the displays. We were followed in by an elderly widow, who made her way directly to the wedding display.  
  
“Rather heavy boots for a widow, I would have said,” I commented.  
  
“Yes, and her skirt is a little short, I’m sure I saw a glimpse of trouser leg beneath it,” Holmes replied.  
  
There was a mother with two small children looking at the display and we couldn’t risk getting any closer without raising their suspicions. I am therefore indebted to Aemelia for what happened next.  
  
The widow approached the mother and said, in a remarkably gruff voice, “’Ere. Take this to Charlie,” and passed a small packet over, which the mother placed in her basket.  
  
At the same time, the small girl said, “I want a mousey,” reached up, and, before Mouselet had time to react, grabbed hold of her.  
  
Mouselet went rigid, then leaned forward and bit the child’s thumb. The child screamed, relaxed her grip, and the Ferret reached down and pulled Mouselet to safety.  
  
Mouselet realised her red skirt had been torn, and with great presence of mind hastily reversed the dress.  
  
Meanwhile the mother looked down at the child and snapped, “What you crying about?”  
  
The girl stopped sucking her thumb and said, “I want a mousey.”  
  
Her older brother pointed at Mouselet and said, “What, that one?”  
  
“No,” the girl pouted, “Mousey in red dress.”  
  
The boy grabbed one of the other mice and pushed it into his mother’s basket. She then marched the pair of them out of the museum.  
  
We hurried over to the display, where the Ferret was chittering angrily. “The woman with the two obnoxious children has the parcel,” he said.  
  
Hurriedly, we collected our three and left the museum. Holmes followed the woman as she made her way down the street, whilst I went to find Lestrade, who had arrived that morning and was waiting for us at the White Lion.  
  
As soon as I found Lestrade, I related the morning’s events and we walked rapidly to the railway station.  
  
Holmes was waiting for us and said, “She’s on the platform. The next train to London’s in five minutes, I imagine she’ll be taking that.”  
  
“As will we,” Lestrade said. He nodded to two police constables who followed him onto the platform, where Lestrade had a word with the station master.  
  
They watched which compartment the woman got into with her children, and then, just before the train departed, Lestrade and the policemen got in too.  
  
We learned from Lestrade later that, when he had asked to inspect the contents of her basket, the woman had screamed and tried to attack him, having to be restrained by one of the constables. The packet contained the plans to a bank vault.  
  
The woman, Ethel Harrow, was arrested, as was Charlie Straight, known bank robber. The children were returned to their mother, having been lent out for the day. The mother denied any knowledge of wrongdoing, saying she thought it was a nice day out for the kiddies. She was warned not to do it again. The stolen mouse was returned to the museum.  
  
We were telling the Ocelot about the case when Holmes said, “What did you make of the museum?”  
  
“It was spooky,” Mouselet said.  
  
“I’ve never seen so many poor stuffed animals before,” Aemelia added.  
  
“And frankly, we are so much better,” the Ferret said.  
  
Which really summed it up perfectly!


End file.
